Indiana doctors sue to protect abortion patients' health information

A pair of Indiana doctors are trying to stop the state’s Department of Health from releasing personal information on abortion patients.

Obstetrician-gynecologists Caitlin Bernard and Caroline Rouse recently filed a lawsuit in Marion County Superior Court to block the release of “terminated pregnancy reports” required under an executive order issued by Governor Mike Braun last month.

Gov. Braun urged the Indiana Department of Health to “enforce the law” and release reports on abortions performed in the state, according to reporting from the Indy Star.

He also signed an executive order on Jan. 22 to ensure a “faithful execution” of the state’s near-total abortion ban.

The executive order notes that under Indiana abortion law, health care providers are required to submit a terminated pregnancy report to the DOH every time an abortion is performed.

It then directs all state agencies to make sure the state’s abortion laws are “fully and faithfully executed” and to cooperate with the Office of the Attorney General in its investigation of enforcement of these laws.

Under the law, health care providers are required to include 31 different data points in terminated pregnancy reports including the name and address of the abortion provider and when and where the abortion was performed.

The plaintiffs argue that the information in these reports can be reverse engineered to identify who has received an abortion in the state.

Since Indiana’s abortion ban took effect in Aug. 2023, few have been able to receive an abortion in the state, which plaintiffs argue raises the risk that TPRs could be used to identify patients.

Fewer than 50 received a legal abortion in the state between January and March of last year, according to a report from the Indiana Department of Health.

About 1,900 received legal abortion care during that same time in 2023.

“We are once again in court defending our patients and their right to privacy,” Bernard and Rouse said in a joint statement. “Everyone receiving medical care deserves to have their personal health decisions and pregnancy outcomes protected. There is no reason to release this sensitive information to the public. We will keep fighting to protect patients' privacy and the trust between doctors and patients.”

In 2022, Bernard made headlines after she received backlash for performing an abortion a 10-year-old Ohio girl who had been raped and then sharing the story with a reporter.

Making that information public also puts both provider and patient at risk, according to Stephanie Toti, executive director of the Lawyering Project, a legal nonprofit representing the two doctors in court along with Jack Law Office LLC.

“We are hopeful the court will stop IDOH from following through on plans to release information that is otherwise protected by both federal and state law,
she said in a statement.

A hearing on the future of the lawsuit is scheduled for Tuesday Feb. 11, 2025.

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